


my roommate is a demon, ft. these assholes

by kthonos



Category: Original Work
Genre: Figured I might as well do something with this 'verse, It's the unholy fusion of a coffeeshop au and like..., Multi, Other, Yes it's original fiction - this project is like my baby, and these characters, awkward roommates au? I guess?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:18:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kthonos/pseuds/kthonos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, gay coffeeshops should definitely be a thing, and it just so happens that I have some characters who run one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	my roommate is a demon, ft. these assholes

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so, I kind of just crapped this out because I want to be able to show people a finished _something_ when I go to talk about this story universe, since it is a big fucking universe and a lot of my main story in it is character-driven.
> 
> This is not that story.
> 
> This is like a sort-of-prequel, and I can't promise that I won't change everything by the time the Official Story makes it to game form. Chapters will be infrequent, and I don't have a beta, so... beware. The rating is for swearing, because I am a potty mouth, whoops.
> 
> Anyway. Enjoy.

It was 5 in the morning on a Monday, and Aaron and Demirah were just setting up for the morning rush of students looking for their caffeine fix. The bell over the door had given a sad jingle, and a short kid had shuffled in - one of the expected students, Aaron assumed. No one should be up at this hour, he hated it enough himself and he was actually being paid to be awake. This poor sap was obviously not, as Aaron could plainly see - between the prominent bags under their eyes and the finals-week hoodie, he was anticipating the kid's coffee order to contain slightly less caffeine than the lethally toxic dose.

He was not wrong. 

Demirah had come out of the back room when she heard the bell chime, a box of fresh mugs in her arms, and unobtrusively checked out the new arrival. She liked to keep an eye on the little shop's regulars, as she claimed it helped her decide what she'd need to order soon. She didn't recognize this guy at all, though. 

"What's up with Captain Cheerful over there?" she spoke in an undertone to Aaron after he'd filled the kid's order. 

"Hell if I know, boss," Aaron stifled a yawn. "He just mumbled something about the most caffeine we'd be willing to legally give him, and staked a claim on Table 3." 

They both craned their heads out of the back room, where they'd been ~~definitely not hiding~~ keeping a subtle eye on the unfamiliar customer. It was an unshakeable habit, they were both suckers for a good piece of gossip; and if nothing else, a new face was a break from the dull gray drudgery of morning set-up. 

The new face in question was buried in the kid's arms. He was not planning to leave Table 3 for quite a while, if Aaron's judgement was worth anything. 

"At least get him his order, dude, and give him a chocolate muffin. On the house," Demirah said. "He looks like he could use a pick-me-up." 

Aaron shook his head at her - she kept taking in strays, she was lucky he made sure that the feral animals she picked up made it into shelters - but he put together the guy's order regardless. Complete with chocolate muffin, because he really did look pathetic. 

"'Mirah! Do I take it out to him? I think he's asleep," Aaron called into the back room, trying to keep his voice down. 

"Yeah, sure," came the reply. She was nose-deep in some sort of financial record and only half paying attention. He huffed and took the drink out anyway. 

The kid's head left the table as he approached, and Aaron got a glimpse of a rather impressive evil-eye before the kid caught sight of the coffee. As soon as it made contact with the tabletop, the kid grabbed the cup and took several deep swigs. Aaron set the muffin down and returned to the back room, slightly unnerved. 

"I think he might be part vampire." 

"Why do you say that?" She looked up from the financial reports. 

"He was chugging the coffee. I mean, straight up chugging it. I haven't seen anybody do that since you kicked out the fire elementals, it must've been steaming still, I just made it." He sat back against a couple of cardboard boxes and rested his hands behind him, crossing his ankles. 

Demirah scoffed. "You know vampires avoid each other unless they're in a clan, and Jeanie is right next door. I know she's riding solo, and he wouldn't get anywhere near here if it would piss her off." Jeanie ran the body mod shop next door, and had done most of their bartender Sammy's tattoos. She and Demirah were on fairly good terms. 

"Well, yeah, fine. But I think he's about to pass out from exhaustion, I'm pretty sure he was asleep on the table a couple minutes ago. I don't think he'd really care." Aaron re-crossed his ankles; the box was uncomfortable. He would probably have to get up and deal with the kid in a moment, anyway. 

"I don't care how tired he is, he's not going to mess with Jeanie. Not even Val messes with Jeanie, and you know how hard she rides our asses when the bar gets loud." She fixed him with a no-nonsense look. "He's coming back to the counter, go see if the not-a-vampire wants another drink." 

"Fiiiiine." Aaron drew out the word on purpose, whiny, in order to bother her. She whapped him on the leg with a rolled-up insurance report as he walked past her. 

The not-a-vampire did want another drink, in fact. He was slouched over the counter, looking at the menu up on the wall, when Aaron approached. 

"Anything else I can get for you?" Aaron had his best customer face on. 

The short guy gave him a vague, baleful look before muttering something that might have been an order. 

"Sorry, what was that?" The customer face was definitely slipping around the edges. It was so early in the morning the sun wasn't up yet, Aaron could give himself a little slack. 

"Night Owl. Extra large. Extra shot of coffee." 

Yeah, if looks could kill, Demirah was going to have to fill out the paperwork for hiring one of the undead. Aaron gave the guy a cursory nod, brushing off the bleary death-glare he got in return, and turned to put together the drink order. 

"What's your name, for the order? I didn't get it earlier," Aaron asked; anything would be better than getting silently glared at by some kid who obviously took too many credits at once. 

_Mumble mumble_. Aaron decided to leave it alone, and doodled a little cartoon of the guy's face instead of putting a name on the side of the cup. The guy in question grabbed his coffee, looking unimpressed, and dumped a couple of loose bills on the counter before stalking out the door. 

Demirah came out of the back room, drawn out again by the jingle of the bell, just in time to see the guy slam the door. 

"Jeez. Something tells me he's woken up on the wrong side of the bed for a while." She dropped a pile of paperwork on the counter to Aaron's left, and propped her elbows up for a good old-fashioned gossip session. 

"A while? Probably more like his entire life," Aaron replied. "He's an asshole, 'Mirah, it's not like we don't get plenty of them here." It was true - because they were the providers of morning caffeine for quite a few students, they got a lot of people who were habitual insomniacs, and plenty of them got upset if coffee didn't make its way into their hands fast enough. 

Demirah considered it and shrugged. 

"Help me finish the morning set-up, Leyla's going to be here soon and we'll have to get the kitchen ready too," she said, dismissing the conversation. 

Aaron sighed and followed her. He just hoped this guy wouldn't show up again - he recognized the gleam in Demirah's eye when she was intent on adopting someone, and he wasn't keen on having some grumpy asshole hanging around more than absolutely necessary. 

* * *

The grumpy asshole in question was named Eli, and he was having a pretty average day so far. Well, it was buttfuck early in the morning, he was running on caffeine and adrenaline more than sleep, and so far it had been a pretty crappy day - so, yeah, about average. 

He was not looking forward to his Advanced Summoning Techniques class. Everything else aside, it started at _six in the morning_. The instructor had assigned a project which was due in two days - invoking at least one major demon, with a five- to six-page essay about the invocation and its outcome - and Eli hadn't even had time to lay the groundwork for the spell. Fuck, he was going to have to do that tonight after Semiplastic Xenobiology, he wouldn't have time to grab dinner with Domino, date night would have to get moved to next week - 

Eli jumped down off the transport rails, dodging a transport pod that had nearly hit him, and took another long sip of his coffee. Hm - it was actually rather good, which surprised him enough to break him out of the mild haze of panic. The coffeeshop near his apartment was cheap, and tasted like it, but it packed a big enough punch in terms of caffeine that it kept him awake. That was Eli's number one priority, but this… well, if he was still functional by the end of the day, he might end up going back to that little café. His usual haunt had been closed for whatever reason, so he'd found the next nearest place that was open at such an early hour and given it a shot. His first coffee had been inhaled too fast for him to really taste it, but this one might be worth an extra couple minutes' transit time, especially because there hadn't been anyone in line when he got there. Plus, someone behind the counter had given him a chocolate muffin - which had been _delicious_ , if a bit stale - and Eli was definitely a fan of free food. 

Shit, he would probably have to apologize to the barista. Or at least act passably polite. Ugh, that was _so_ not his strong point. 

Eli wrapped his hands a little tighter around the cup, which was starting to cool off, and stepped into the line of people waiting for the next transport pod.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I know he's a magic dude and he goes to magic school college, I know it's overdone, that's the point.
> 
> Also: "Human" characters in this 'verse are not actually human, because humans got morphed into mythological creatures and stuff. Hence the vampires and such.


End file.
